


Between Seconds

by Heleentje



Series: One Second Per Second [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 11:56:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18410144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heleentje/pseuds/Heleentje
Summary: A collection of scenes and drabbles taking place in the universe of One Second Per Second.





	Between Seconds

**Author's Note:**

> This is a collection of scenes that take place in the universe of One Second Per Second. I will update this whenever I have something to share.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aki looks for an outlet in the wake of the Ark.
> 
> This chapter takes place during [chapter 21 of One Second Per Second](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14172297/chapters/43373192), during a moment of downtime. Spoilers for everything that came before that chapter, obviously.

Aki had found herself a little spot in the massive building and hidden away. This wasn’t what she’d signed up for. She had worked so hard to put her life back together, and finally, when she’d thought she’d succeeded, it had all been ripped away from her again. She rubbed her right arm absently. Cursed mark, she’d called the birthmark when she was younger. She was starting to wonder whether her younger self hadn’t been right. The mark certainly hadn’t brought her many happy memories.

She’d had friends now, for the first time in her life. And she’d just patched things up with her parents. She still spent most of her time away from home, but coming home didn’t feel as awkward anymore as it had right before she ran away or right after she came back. Her room wasn’t the only place where she felt safe anymore. And now they were taking it all away from her again.

She could back out. Bruno had given her the option and her parents could probably fix whatever trouble she’d be in when she got back. She had been spotted on the Ark, sure, but her parents had undone worse messes in the past. She could resume her life. And then she’d probably spend the rest of her days wondering and worrying about what was going on with her friends. Even if Yusei decided not to go along, she would still worry about Bruno and Sherry. Yusei would worry about them. And every little change they saw in the timeline would raise hundreds of questions. And what if they didn’t see any changes in the timeline at all? What if they never returned? Would she be forever left wondering what happened to them?

The walls were closing in on her. She needed out. She needed to _do_ something. Her hands were itching and her powers were rising to the surface. She hadn’t felt this powerful in a long time. Even before she’d lost her powers, she had been holding back, afraid of the damage they could cause. Black Rose Dragon had talked her out of it, and the monster had been right; she felt a lot better now that she had full use of them again. They were a part of her. And she wanted to use them.

Using her powers inside this building probably wouldn’t win her any favors. But if Paradox was psychic, he had to have practiced somewhere, right? They had to have some kind of space reserved for training.

Mind made up, she made her way back to the common area. Bruno was still there, as was Yusei, both holed up on opposite sides of the room and equally unwilling to admit defeat and leave. Aki bit her lip. Yusei eyed her suspiciously when she made her way over to Bruno. She had wanted to ask Bruno about Accel Synchro too, but now didn’t seem like the right moment, not with Yusei here. If only things could be normal again… But Yusei clearly hadn’t forgiven either her or Bruno yet.

She didn’t blame him.

She slumped down next to Bruno. He turned his head slightly, acknowledging her, then went back to staring straight ahead.

“Hey, Bruno?”

“It’s Antinomy now,” Yusei cut through. Bruno flinched. Aki ignored him.

“Do you have a training field I could use?” she asked. “I’m going stir-crazy.”

“Training? For dueling?” Bruno got up. “Sure, I’ll show you. Need an opponent?”

It was tempting — they did still have a duel to finish. But that wasn’t what she’d come for. “Actually, I meant for psychic training. Paradox trained somewhere, right?”

“Psychic?” Bruno stopped in his tracks, just outside the door. Aki joined him and the door slid shut behind them. “I don’t know, we never really had anything for that.”

“He didn’t train?” That would explain why his form had been so sloppy on the Ark, and why he didn’t even know the very basics of using psychic energy. But really? That was crazy! He had been able to summon all those monsters and steal Yusei’s Stardust Dragon. How could he have done that without any kind of training?

Bruno must have caught her expression, because he said: “It’s not like he didn’t practice at all or anything. He just never needed a dedicated place for it. When the Machine Emperors were around—” He swallowed heavily. “Well, he got enough on-the-job training.”

He snorted. Aki didn’t find it particularly funny.

“But I think he usually just blew up stuff outside. If that’s okay?”

Blowing up stuff was exactly what she needed right now. “Is it safe?”

“For you? Not much out there that could be a threat. There are some wild animals now, but they’re more afraid of us than we are of them.” He summoned an elevator up. The infrastructure of this building was surprisingly complicated. She hadn’t even seen half of the sprawling underground hallways and rooms.

Bruno didn’t go far into the hallway. He opened a door to the right and took the stairs attached to it. “It’s a shorter way outside,” he explained. “We wanted a quick escape hatch if it proved necessary. The hallway doesn’t provide enough cover.”

Made sense. Bruno threw open the hatch at the end of the stairway. Aki breathed deeply. A century of destruction had done wonders for the outside air, if nothing else.

“Well, knock yourself out.” Bruno gestured at the wide field they were on. There were streets and houses in the distance, and what was left of Momentum Express loomed in front of her, but there was more than enough room to let loose. Perfect.

“Will you be fine on your own?”

Aki nodded, still surveying the area. There wasn’t too much in the way of targets here, but she’d make do. Maybe she could take a look around the area. “Hey Bruno?”

Bruno, who was already halfway back to the building, turned around. “Yeah?”

“One thing.” She swallowed. What Yusei had said had stuck with her. “Why did he call you Antinomy?”

Bruno looked at her, eyes shadowed and face suddenly drawn, a far cry from his earlier mood. Aki wished she hadn’t asked.

“It’s my name,” he said only. The slam of the door behind him sounded final.

Well. That didn’t exactly improve her concentration. Blowing something up really sounded good now. She took a deep breath, going through the motions of gathering her energy and taking her time for it. It had been a long time since she’d really practiced. The fights on the Ark had been nothing like the structured training sessions at Arcadia. She shifted her stance and released her energy. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know that Black Rose Dragon had appeared. The monster’s presence was all around her, even more tangible now that she could see spirits. Before, the personalities of her monsters had never really come through when she’d summoned them. Now it was clear as day. Black Rose Dragon was a lot like her, whereas Blue Rose Dragon and Night Rose Knight were essentially children. Rose Herald had lost some of her shyness since Aki had first met her, but as the newest member of her deck, she still didn’t speak up very often.

She had three monsters out now. She had summoned more on the Ark Cradle, but it had taken her considerable energy to keep them all stable. How many monsters could she summon? And how far away from her could they go before her powers were unable to keep them solid? Yesterday, Efflorescent Rose Dragon had taken off to the city, easily a few kilometers away from the Ark.

Aki opened her eyes. How much space did she have? The field in front of her stretched out for at least another kilometer before it reached the suburbs they’d first arrived in. It wasn’t enough. She already knew she could cross that distance easily.

“Black Rose Dragon, take me up, please.”

Her dragon bowed her head, and Aki climbed on. She barely had time to cling to the dragon’s neck before she shot off, high up in the air. She really didn’t get to fly often enough. Aki opened her eyes when Black Rose Dragon leveled out and took in the landscape. It was… disheartening. Far in the distance, there was the ocean, with what was left of Neo Domino City before it. Only ruins and burnt-out skyscrapers. The sky was a brilliant blue, a perfect summer’s day, and no one around to see it. Was there anyone else left? Or were Bruno’s claims true and were he, Paradox and Aporia really the last humans on the planet? She had been born in Neo Domino City a century ago. It had been the city she’d grown up in and loved, despite everything. What had happened to her in this world? She must have died along with everyone else.

If she went to the city now, would she find what was left of her parents’ home? Of Duel Academia? Would her own bones still be somewhere out there, buried under the rubble, or would they have turned to dust by now?

Black Rose Dragon cried softly and flew back down to the ground. Aki patted the feathered neck of the dragon. “You’re right,” she whispered. She couldn’t let herself get carried away or she’d never get anything done. She’d gotten her view of the area, nothing but empty plains and ruins as far as the eye could see, with only the mountains in the distance to break the monotony. She could practice here.

Blue Rose Dragon settled in her arms as soon as she hopped off Black Rose Dragon’s back, making chirping noises of distress. Aki ran her hands through the leaves of her wings. “I’m fine, thank you.” She looked up at her Signer dragon. “Both of you. We’ll just have to change it, right?”

Blue Rose Dragon made a tiny noise. Black Rose Dragon bowed her massive head with something almost like a smile. And Aki closed her eyes again, focusing on the energy of her monsters in her deck. Splendid Rose, Phoenician Cluster Amaryllis, Rose Herald, Dark Verdure, Violet Witch, one after the other, until she had all of her monsters standing around her. She had never tried to summon all of them at once. Surprisingly, she felt fine. A bit winded, but fine.

“You guys up for this?”

Violet Witch and Witch of the Black Rose were off right away, giggling among themselves, and Aki wondered what went on in her deck if she wasn’t around. Did they have close friendships? Did they talk about her or about others? One look at Black Rose Dragon told her that that was probably the case. The twinkle in the dragon’s eyes was almost teasing as she flapped her massive wings and took off. Aki suppressed a groan. She still had a lot to learn about her own monsters.

One by one, they all disappeared, the flying monsters first, the plant monsters a bit slower. Some, like Dark Verdure, just opted to burrow into the ground and disappear. She could still feel all of them. Black Rose Dragon had caught up with Violet Witch and Witch of the Black Rose and had slowed her pace to keep pace with the tiny monsters. Blue Rose Dragon had opted to head for Neo Domino City. Aki didn’t like it, but someone had to go there.

The door to the underground lab opened and Paradox stepped out. Aki suddenly wished she hadn’t sent all of her monsters away.

“What are you doing?”

“Training,” Aki said, eyes fixed on the horizon, in the direction Black Rose Dragon had flown off to. They were on the same side, she reminded herself. He hadn’t actively tried to harm any of them since Yusei had defeated him. She wasn’t afraid.

“Doing what, standing around? What are you going to do if you’re ambushed?”

Phoenician Cluster Amaryllis burst out, tentacles missing Paradox by inches. He jumped back and threw up a hasty shield with a muffled swear. Aki allowed herself one of her Black Rose Witch smiles.

“That.”

When Phoenician Cluster Amaryllis made no further movements, Paradox straightened up, but didn’t lose the shield. “Fair enough. And what if your monsters can’t get to you? What if summoning them is going to make the entire room collapse?”

Aki narrowed her eyes. “What’s your point?” 

Paradox stepped forward, coming to a stop a few feet away from Aki. It was enough distance that both of them would be able to react should the other try something. So Paradox was just as wary of her as she was of him. Good to know. He gestured at Neo Domino City in the distance.

“The first time I summoned a monster to fight the Machine Emperors, I caused more damage than the Machine Emperor could have done. You psychics always want to summon your monsters, always want to use the flashiest moves you have. Sometimes you can’t do that.”

If Yusei was to be believed, Paradox had done the exact same thing when attacking him and Judai-san and Yugi-san. “So then what would you do?” she asked.

“I sealed them.”

Right. She had never seen anything like it. It wasn’t anything Divine had ever taught her. Summoning monsters she could do perfectly well, but sealing them in cards?

“Must’ve been useful.”

“Very.” Paradox’s voice was subdued. He dropped the shield. Aki almost winced at the sloppiness of it. His shields weren’t bad, far from, but they lacked the single-handed focus Arcadia had taught her. A sufficiently powerful psychic could find the weak spots if they wanted to. Bruno had said that he didn’t really train, but who had taught him to use his powers in the first place? Whoever it was hadn’t done a great job of it.

“Where did you train?”she asked.

“Train what?”

“Your psychic powers. Who trained you?”

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Paradox frown. “No one,” he said. “I didn’t train.”

 _What?_ “Was there no one to train y—”

“I didn’t want to. You psychics duelists are all so invested in your powers, always training, always letting it define you.” He turned his head away from her. “You get lazy. You get too sure of yourselves.”

“You’re a psychic duelist too,” Aki said. What was his problem? Where did he get off on insulting them like that?

“Hardly.” Paradox said in clipped tones. “I’m a scientist, not whatever psychic nonsense you people came up with. I didn’t need your guidance back then and I certainly don’t need it now.”

How was Bruno friends with him again? And— Aki frowned. “Back then?”

Paradox flinched, almost imperceptible, but her senses were heightened now that she was using her psychic powers. So he had been offered training and hadn’t taken it. When had this been? What was he not telling her?

“It’s none of your business.”

“All right.” Aki recalled Black Rose Dragon. She had no real idea how far her other monsters had gone, only that they’d gone far. “Do you at least know the limits of your power?”

The question startled Paradox. “I did before,” he said slowly. Warily. “Not anymore now. Why do you ask?”

“Because if you’re going to save your future, you should at least know what you can do. How come you don’t know?” Aki didn’t say she’d been trying to find out the very same thing. She had an excuse. She’d only just gotten her psychic powers back and she hadn’t had the time to find out yet what had changed.

Paradox took several steps into the open field, in the direction of Neo Domino City in the distance. Aki thought he wasn’t going to reply. But then he said. “You were on the Ark. I’d been keeping control of the Machine Emperors for decades, so when I lost control, all the power I’d been using to do so returned to me. I don’t know what my limits are right now, only that they’re different from before.”

A stronger Paradox than the one who’d summoned several dragons to attack Yusei and Judai-san. She’d be lying if she said that the idea wasn’t scary. But he had been on their side on the Ark, so perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to help him out a bit here. No matter what she chose to do in the end, she didn’t want anyone to die, and if Paradox could make sure that didn’t happen, it was worth putting up with him.

“Test them now. Distance, power, control,” she summed up. “You have the time and the space. You should know before you do anything else.” Aki had never taught anyone at Arcadia. Divine hadn’t let her. But she’d seen enough of the training sessions to know how to do this.

Paradox looked back at her, incredulous. “I can’t just randomly go around sending out monsters!”

So he needed an incentive? It was stupid, very stupid, and if Crow or Yusei or anyone else were here, they’d probably shout at her. But she _had_ wanted to blow something up. And Aki had enough confidence in her psychic powers now to be sure she could keep them under control. Black Rose Dragon had returned and was hovering above her head now, a silent presence keeping guard. Perhaps not much longer.

 _Black Rose Dragon?_ She wasn’t sure if this would work, but Johan had been able to talk to his monsters telepathically and he wasn’t even psychic. Black Rose Dragon had talked in her head when she’d used Accel Synchro for the very first time.

_Yes, Aki?_

Aki’s face split in a smile, even when Paradox frowned at her. Perfect. _Want to help him out?_

She could almost hear her monster smirk. _Of course._

Aki stepped out of the way as her monster shot down. Paradox eyes grew wide and he threw up another shield, one that Black Rose Dragon barely dodged. Aki hoisted herself up on her dragon and eyed the shield. Sloppy. Strong enough to keep a lot of monsters out, but a focused attack would break through it in an instant.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Paradox screamed. Aki waved.

“You wanted an incentive, didn’t you? Well, try to defeat me!”

Paradox growled, and for a moment Aki thought she’d made a mistake. She was fairly sure that she was more powerful than him, but what if she’d been wrong? He had lived a lot longer than she had.

But the next moment, he smiled. “All right, if that’s how you want it,” he shouted back. “Trishula!”

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier rose up behind him. She had only seen him summon it a few times before, and the monster was no less impressive now that she could see it in broad daylight. A wave of cold air washed over her and she shivered. Unlike her, Paradox remained on the ground. Okay then. She could play this game.

Black Rose Dragon dodged Trishula’s attack effortlessly. Aki studied the shield Paradox had up. It shouldn’t be hard to break through, just right… There! She released a tiny blast of energy, nowhere near the most powerful blast she could muster, but focused with spearpoint precision. It hit the shield and broke through it, sending Paradox falling down. It shouldn’t have hurt him. It was only a demonstration, a lesson. He needed to shield himself properly in case he ever went up against something stronger than him.

“What?” Paradox jumped back to his feet, hair coming undone from his ponytail. He didn’t look angry, only… assessing. Trishula landed again, and this time Paradox climbed on its back. It would offer him better defense, that much was for sure. So she’d just need another way to get to him. Black Rose Dragon tensed underneath her and was just about to release another attack when Trishula shot off, in the direction of Neo Domino City. Black Rose Dragon followed without command. Where was he going? Not Neo Domino itself, surely? That would be a nasty way to throw her off. She wouldn’t put it past him, but surely he wouldn’t—

He didn’t. Trishula reached the suburbs where they’d first arrived within minutes and landed on the roof of one of the few buildings left standing.Black Rose Dragon remained in the air. Aki wanted to see what he’d do first. Paradox was studying the buildings. That didn’t bode anything good.

“Stay in the air,” she whispered to Black Rose Dragon. She concentrated, slowly gathering her energy so Paradox wouldn’t notice. If she got him down to the streets, she’d find out what he was planning. Paradox was still looking around, but Aki was sure he was following her every move. Just a bit longer… Now!

The blast was stronger now, and far more spread out. It hit the building Paradox had been on, throwing up rubble and dust. Perhaps she’d been a bit too enthusiastic there… But surely Paradox would’ve defended himself—

The hit almost threw her off Black Rose Dragon. Her dragon jolted and fell sideways, hitting the pavement heavily. For a second, Aki lay dazed. _What?_

“You’re too obvious!” Paradox shouted. Trishula hovered above them, far away from the building it had been on originally. “I saw it coming from miles away!”

She’d been so careful to keep her power hidden… How had he noticed? Black Rose Dragon recovered and shot at Trishula, leaving Aki behind. Trishula dodged the first hit, but not the second. The dragon went spiraling down, but Paradox recovered and shielded the both of them as they landed. Stalemate. She and Paradox were both on the ground. Both of their dragons had been hit, but were far from out. She could summon another monster, but that didn’t seem fair. This wasn’t a real fight. They weren’t trying to kill each other.

She shifted her stance, concentrating on the weak spots in Paradox’s shield— And barely managed to throw up a shield of her own as Paradox’s attack impacted it.

“Too obvious!” he shouted again. He had felt her attack coming again? _How?_ He’d had no training, he shouldn’t have been able to feel her preparations when she’d been so careful to hide the signature.

“How did you feel it?” she asked. It was genuine curiosity. Even with no training, he had clearly picked up something.

Paradox shifted his stance too, his weight resting on his left leg. “Feel? Didn’t feel anything. But you keep taking that stance. You’re so concentrated that it’s easy to tell when you’ll attack.”

… Her stance? He was reading her stance? But this was the way she was supposed to use her powers!

“Like I said, you’re too obvious.” Both Black Rose Dragon and Trishula had landed again. Silence returned in the tiny neighborhood. “An enemy who knows anything about fighting is going to see your attacks coming from a mile away. I don’t care if they’re the proper form for this kind of thing. If you want to survive, you’re going to have to play dirty.”

Oh, so now he was giving her advice? But perhaps he had a point. Arcadia had always focused on proper form. Paradox clearly hadn’t. Maybe she’d have to be a bit more subtle about what she was planning.

… But that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn anything. “Black Rose Dragon!” she shouted. Intentionally, because now that she could talk to her dragon in her mind, she didn’t need words. But her dragon understood her intention, launching her leaf storm at Paradox. And Paradox, like she’d expected, pulled up a shield. _There._

Her own psychic blast mingled with Black Rose Dragon’s attack, pierced through the shield as if it wasn’t even there and sent Paradox flying. Trishula immediately retaliated, but Black Rose Dragon dodged and landed heavily behind Aki. Paradox struggled back to his feet. Aki winced. She hadn’t quite meant to hit him that hard. He’d have bruises in the morning.

“Your shield is only as strong as its weakest point. Hit that, and the whole thing shatters.” Paradox’s energy was easy to read, swirling all around him. “You have to make it solid, strong. You can’t afford a single weakness, because a well-trained psychic will find it and destroy it.”

Paradox was staring at her and then back at his hands. He clenched them briefly and tucked a strand of hair that had come loose behind his ear. “I see,” he said. “I’ll take it into account.”

And then the wall next to her crumbled and fell.

Aki yelled in surprise. She hadn’t even seen him attack! Her own shield was solid and strong and perfectly capable of keeping the rubble from hitting her, but still, how?

“Physics,” said Paradox smugly. “Take out one support wall and the whole thing comes crumbling down. I didn’t even need any energy.”

 _Scientists._ It was a clever trick, Aki had to concede. Of course she would have missed the attack; he hadn’t been aiming for her. So Paradox needed to work on his shields and Aki needed to work on her stance. This was proving to be a real stalemate. But she was sure she was more powerful than he was. And her pride wouldn’t allow her to lose this particular battle.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Aki’s attack fizzled out. Trishula disappeared, leaving a Paradox who suddenly looked quite ashamed. Bruno spun his D-Wheel to a stop right between them. He took off his helmet and stared between the two of them and the half-destroyed village.

“We were training,” Paradox said. Aki shrugged helplessly. They had been. Something that passed for it anyway.

“I leave you alone for five minutes…” Bruno muttered. Oh, he was one to talk. Last she’d checked, Bruno was the one who was so good at disappearing.

“No one got hurt,” said Paradox. “We were just testing stuff out.”

Bruno looked doubtful. It did look kind of bad, what with the destroyed buildings. “Warn us next time, okay?” she said. “We saw Trishula and Black Rose Dragon fighting. It was scary.”

And Bruno was the one with the fastest D-Wheel and had been sent to check it out. Of course. That was the end of their training session, then.

“We’re perfectly fine,” Paradox said. “Don’t worry so much.”

“Yeah, we’ll head back now,” Aki added. She had some things to practice and Paradox probably did too. Bruno still looked unconvinced, but Paradox ambled over and clapped him on the shoulder. “Antinomy, seriously, we’re fine,” he said. Aki hopped onto Black Rose Dragon’s back and let the dragon take her back to the base. It had been good to be outside and blow things up. She had never really been in an all-out, moving fight. It had been a learning experience.

And hey, throughout the entire battle, she’d kept all her other monsters perfectly solid. Blue Rose Dragon had even made it all the way to Neo Domino City. She really was learning new things about herself here.


End file.
